To the Editor:
The Recording Industry Association of America is bringing lawsuits against two fellow RPI students who administrate Phynd. The RIAA needs to drop these lawsuits, open their eyes to the cause of peer-to-peer sharing on campus, and find a way to satisfy the demand for music that exists at RPI.
In the last several years, the RIAA has put considerable effort into cracking down on P2P sharing, which supposedly causes millions of dollars lost in music CD sales. This argument may or may not be true for the average American. But, bringing “shotgun lawsuit” tactics onto a college campus is ignorant. RIAA has failed to consider the average RPI student’s finances: $26,400 for tuition, $10,000 for room, board, and books and little or no income.
Fifteen or twenty dollars per CD for one or two good songs is exactly why P2P sharing exists on campus. The RIAA says Phynd is “...just like Napster. They hurt artists, musicians, songwriters...” Wrong. Phynd provides an essential service to people who have little money: music that gets us through a stressful time in our lives.
RIAA says its actions are “to serve as a stiff deterrent to anyone who is operating or considering setting up a similar system.” These lawsuits are in vain. RPI students are the elite in technology; writing a decentralized Phynd is not beyond the brilliance of my peers. Instead, RIAA should open their eyes to different possibilities of serving the student population.
One possibility is offering a cheap site license to RPI (as is done with software) and have Phynd tabulate songs downloaded/streamed and give percentages to authors accordingly. Ten to twenty dollars for unlimited music for the year would be acceptable. The RIAA would earn more money than they earn from most students now and they would invite less resentment from the leaders of the future.
Drop the lawsuits, RIAA. Find a constructive and realistic answer to this situation before you touch Phynd. RPI students: Stand up for your right to music. Make these people present a viable solution if changes are to be made.
Chaz Misiewicz
AERO ’04
